Superhydrophobic surfaces with high water contact angles and low slip angles exhibit many interesting properties, such as self-cleaning and anti-icing, because droplets of aqueous fluids roll easily across the surface. Applications for such materials could span different industries including food processing (e.g. food washing equipment and storage tanks) and outdoor infrastructure (e.g. wind turbine blades and stadium roofing). Although many natural and synthetic processes have been described, the fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces in large areas that lead to mechanically robust and chemically stable materials remains a challenge.

In this presentation, I’ll discuss how the processing advantages of polymeric materials can be used to fabricate a wide variety of novel and robust superhydrophobic surfaces. For example, commercially available multi-jet modeling machines can be used to create three dimensional polymer objects with superhydrophobic properties. To enhance control of the material and printing parameters, a robotic printing apparatus was constructed, enabling the fabrication of surfaces with unique properties such as anisotropic slip behavior similar to behavior observed on butterfly wings. To fabricate larger quantities of superhydrophobic surfaces, lamination technologies have been developed. Using such techniques, mechanically robust surfaces have been fabricated that exhibit icephobicity and the highest abrasion resistance reported to date. These methods are environmental friendly, and may provide an economically viable path to manufacture large areas of mechanically robust superhydrophobic surfaces from inexpensive polymers.

To learn more about the CUNYCAT “Industry Showcase” initiative, please see our EVENTS page, or contact Dr. Myron Wecker at 212-650-7578, or by email at: mwecker@cunycat.org.